Queen Abigail’s magical clock.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like in a world without clocks or watches or even calendars? Queen Abigail knows.

How often do you look at a clock to find out if it’s time to eat? Queen Abigail never does.

Do you depend on that alarm clock to get you up in the morning? Queen Abigail doesn’t.

Do you get impatient when someone doesn’t arrive at an appointed hour? Not Queen Abigail.

How about days of the week? Ever lost track of what day it is? Again, not the Queen.

Ever thought it was one day but it was another? Still a negative for her highness.

Could you tell without a calendar when a special day like Christmas, a birthday, or holiday is getting close? Her majesty can.

You see, Queen Abigail didn’t just somehow learn to live without these things. She’s always been without them. Queen Abigail, a.k.a. Queenie, is a yellow Labrador Retriever.

To me, Queenie exhibits what must have been the characteristics of early man. We must have had these intuitive and observational talents ourselves before the official advent of time and date erased them from our psyche. Well, not erased exactly, just buried them deep down. How else do you explain needing an alarm clock to get up for work, but not if it’s a golf game or a vacation trip. We just wake up because we set our mind to it. And aren’t we always more upbeat on Fridays? It’s amazing to think about. But I digress. Back to Queen Abigail.

Queenie never wonders if it’s dinner time. She’s hungry, so it’s time to eat.

Queenie doesn’t need an alarm clock. It’s daybreak, so it’s time to get up.

Queenie doesn’t know it’s Tuesday, but she knows it’s pick up the girls from swim practice night, so let’s just get in the car. Nor does she know it’s Saturday morning, she just knows it’s time for the girls’ soccer games, so get the chairs and let’s go.

And special days?  She doesn’t know it’s Memorial Day weekend, she just knows we’re going to the beach.

As anyone who has ever owned a dog knows, they have internal clocks and calendars and it all revolves around observation. They watch us like a hawk, noting every little ritual and habit and downloading it into their hard drive or as I like to call it, their “how does this affect me?” database. They can pick up on our gestures and comments faster than you can say “I wonder if the dog really knows?”

They also have incredible intuition. They can tell when a storm is coming well before the first crack of thunder. They know you’re getting sick long before you need your first Gesundheit. They know whether the stranger at the door poses a threat or is another easy mark for a prolonged ear-scratching. And thank goodness for all that.

We need our clocks and we need our calendars. That’s how we have advanced so far as a civilization. But I’ll be doggone if I don’t envy her sometimes.

Well, I’ll finish this tomorrow. Queenie just reminded me, we’re sleepy so it’s “time” for bed.